Tag: seedling

July is bringing in lot of sunshine and warmth. I picked last of the Strawberries of 2012. There are many more left, some of them have slug damage and some are perfectly good, I am leaving them for critters, bugs. Blueberries are starting to come in, they should ripen over next 2 weeks.

On Tuesday, I picked few Strawberries, peas, pinched Basil and a single perfectly round Radish.

I picked few outer Basil leaves next day, these were promptly used in Tomato-Basil-Pepper jack grilled sandwich. I didn’t have Mozzarella at home, pepper jack worked just fine. Thursday brought in last of the Strawberries and bowlful of Blueberries.

I made cabbage Salad for Friday potluck. Chives were picked, chopped and mixed with Cabbage/Ramen-Maggie/Vinegar/Sambal to make tangy Cabbage Salad.

June 21st marks first day of summer. Seattle area saw temperatures in 70s after many days (or weeks) of June gloom. There were so many good sunny days in April/May I almost did not expect June to be so overcast. But it was for first 3 weeks.

On first day of summer, here is small tour of the garden.

Various Containers:

A good friend has shared Mint cuttings with me last week, I have established it in a small container. Hopefully it will live.

Shoebox container with onion seeds just emerging.

Bed 1:

Alaska type peas are forming; these will give a good harvest beginning next week.

Dill has emerged:)

Green Sorrel is just forming. I am hoping that these establish in this location. Looking forward to summer long of Chukka bhaji.

And finally, all above in one single shot. Clockwise – Wax bean seedlings, Green sorrel, Dill and peas on left of the photo.

Bed 2:

Here are Bright lights Chard and Purple Kohlrabi seedlings. In the right corner of picture, young Methi seedlings have emerged.

One single shot of bed 2 – from clockwise: new seed planting of beans, fenugreek methi, overwintered beets that are bolting, I am hoping to collect seeds. And lastly 2 puny tomato seedlings which I am hoping to speed with homemade milk jar reenhouses.

Bed 5:

I have transplanted 4-5 small seedlings of winter squash (Buttercup) in the neglected space of my garden. This soil is not amended and I fear these plants are not going to be as vigorous as otherwise. I’ll wait and see.

French Breakfast radishes are bulbing up.

Apart from this, I have 3 volunteer potato plants growing up. These came up from missed tubers from last years. I am not complaining.
A local drugstore sells seedlings, I am watching closely till they slash prices of the seedling trays to 50 cents. I never tried buying such sale seedlings, shall try this year. let’ see what grows form it.

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Summer has started officially on June 21st 1:46PM, it hardly feels like it. In pacific Northwest, summer usually arrives after July 4th, it’s a magic date – Cold and rain sort of disappears for few weeks. It’s so sad that we have to count summer in weeks rather than months. Summer in Seattle – it never gets too hot, reaches 90 for couple days then back to 60s, Summer in Seattle is just like extended Spring – we just call it Summer.

Oh well, this year I fell back on planning and planting, starting seedlings. It just sorta got pushed on to backburner. My garden is in sad state right now, lack of sunlight is not helping anything either.

I am back to Seattle. It feels like spring and we are officially allowed to start dreaming (and working) on gardens. Yay! I can hardly wait for days to get longer and brighter and things to start growing again….

I was away for 2 months visiting family, had to plan trip last minute. Just before leaving, in late February, I threw seeds in few pots lying on patio. I have been reading a lot about wintersowing, I thought to give it a try… I didn’t get much time to cover pots, these remained outside braving cold and rain. Now I am back and glad to see that few seeds managed to germinate. wintersowing success! Spinach, Lettuce and Peas germinated well, Cherry Belle radishes are bulbing up. Few brassicas seedlings are seen ( I don’t remember if I sown cabbage/Cauliflower or Turnip), time will tell.

While I was away for 7 weeks, 3 supermarket bought potatoes remained in pantry. These sent out shoots/sprouts. I still don’t know correct way of chitting potatoes or if I should/should not be using supermarket version But I am going to give it a try sowing them. I dug up trench 1 ft deep and sown cut up ‘eyes’ of potatoes. One is Yukon Gold and other is Russett (I think)

Harvested this week half pound of Chives. I used big bunch in potato/carrot curry today morning.

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Peas are up, yay!!! My girls are going crazy. So far Peas have been easiest to grow in my garden, this is our first harvest of fall planting. I used Ed Hume seeds, variety – Super Sugar Snap . This is what says on packet

I helped seeds for about 24 hours into warm water and directly sown into the garden. I planted 10 seeds at a days interval so I have a plant which is producing pods right now and other just beginning to germinate. Biggest plant has already given me 10 peapods in last 3 days.

Peas life cycle –

tiny pea seedling 3 days old ( 6 days after seeds were sown)

Pea seedling with true leaves – 10 days after germination

Pea plants are crying for help – we need support. Time to build trellis, in my garden I go cheap route using sticks and fiber twine.

ready for harvest yet?

ready for picking … in 1.5 months

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Who am I?

Novice gardener, a wife and a mom trying to grow her own food. I garden in Washington, specifically Pacific Northwest - USDA zone 8b, sunset zone 4. All my life I have lived in a city with no space for gardening, now we are into a house with decent size yard. I am trying out growing vegetables, this is my story os success and failures.